This invention pertains generally to voltage and current source regulators. More particularly, this invention pertains to devices for compensating for the effects of voltage and current source fluctuations for use with one or more amplifiers both with and without operating points which are periodically reset by clamping.
Simple voltage regulators and current regulators which maintain the voltage or current at a constant level substantially independent of variations in the amount of power drawn from the sources are well known in the art. In a simple series-type voltage regulator for instance, the supply voltage drop across the variable resistance compensates for any variation in the supply voltage so that the output voltage remains substantially constant. In similar regulation devices for current sources, the output current is sensed and compared to a standard and any deviation from the standard is amplified and applied so as to remove the deviation or fluctuation.
In some circumstances an electronic device requires voltages and or currents from a number of different sources. In the prior art a separate regulator for each of the sources has been used to remove any fluctuations from each of the sources and thus avoid variations in the operation of the device caused by variations in the voltage or current obtained from these sources. This prior art method for avoiding fluctuations in the operation of the electronic device due to voltage and current supply variations is inefficient because it uses a separate regulator for each of the current and voltage sources.
In applications where many separate amplifiers are connected to the same current and voltage sources, the failure to adequately regulate the sources can cause cross-talk between the amplifiers. Accordingly, in such applications all of the sources must be individually regulated or some other means must be used to compensate for, or remove the effect of, the fluctuations in the voltage and current sources.